What's being done to move the Rockford area forward and what sometimes holds us back?

Israelis free former Rockford woman from house arrest

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By Isaac Guerrero

Whatís being done to move the Rockford area forward and what sometimes holds us back? Thatís what interests reporter Isaac Guerrero. The Rockford native writes about higher education and public/private partnerships Ė how public and quasi-public
...

Whatís being done to move the Rockford area forward and what sometimes holds us back? Thatís what interests reporter Isaac Guerrero. The Rockford native writes about higher education and public/private partnerships Ė how public and quasi-public agencies leverage your tax dollars to boost tourism, economic development and education. Isaac is a Rockford native and a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University. He has held a variety of writing and editing roles at the Register Star since 1998.

Emily Klonicki (from left) Lauren Siebert, Eric Howanietz and Rachel Leon discuss a strategy to persuade the Rockford City Council to reinstate funding for library worker pensions during a meeting Friday July 24, 2009, at Katie's Cup in Rockford.

Israeli police have released a former Rockford woman from a Tel Aviv apartment where she was held under house arrest for a week.

Lauren Siebert, a former Rockford Public Library collection manager, plans to return to the West Bank and continue serving as an international peace activist with pro-Palestine group International Solidarity Movement.

Siebert was jailed and held under house arrest for a week following her arrest at a protest in the occupied Palestinian territories Sept. 21. She was released Sunday, but authorities have yet to return her passport to her, according to a friend, Pat Minor, whom Siebert stays in touch with via Facebook.

Siebert, three other international peace activists from the United Kingdom and two Palestinian men were arrested after Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Kufr Qeddoum during a demonstration last week.

Police allege that the international peace activists and the Palestinian men were throwing stones at the Israeli occupation soldiers during the demonstration. They charged all six with being in a closed military zone.

Siebert lived in Rockford for six years and then relocated to Iowa City, Iowa. Minor, who also lives in Iowa City, knows Siebert through Minor's own involvment in People for Justice in Palestine.

"(Siebert) wants to stay there and stand in solidarity with the Palestinians," Minor said in a phone interview Monday. "Just as many of the other international peace activists are doing there, watching for human rights abuses, taking children to school, standing and being an observer at checkpoints."

Siebert provided details of her status last week in an open letter that was published on the International Solidarity Movement website (palsolidarity.org).

The Palestinian-led movement is committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent means.

"This weekend, I spent 48 hours in Israeli prisons," Siebert wrote on the ISM website Sept. 25. "I was denied access to medicine, kept for long periods in leg and wrist shackles and prevented from calling a lawyer or my embassy; but this is light treatment compared to the punishment meted out to Palestinians who resist illegal occupation of their land."

"We were charged with the same things, using the same evidence," she wrote. "But the Palestinian protesters are likely to spend 20 months in detention, whereas we will be free to go on Sunday."

Israeli occupation forces have increased their pressure on Kufr Qeddoum in the last several weeks, according to the ISM. Residents of the town have held weekly protests against the 12-year closure of their eastern road for over a year.